


PIGZ

by proceduralpassion87



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, F/M, Original Character(s), Originally Posted on Tumblr, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:01:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28165932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/proceduralpassion87/pseuds/proceduralpassion87
Summary: After a perplexing carwreck, pathologist Benjamin Hawke goes missing and is presumed dead while his daughter, Seven Hawke, is left with no recollection of what happened. Stuck between holding out hope and coming to terms with her father’s potential death, she immerses herself in anything that drives her mind away from the agony and frustration growing from so many unanswered questions. Oliver Queen is working as a dog walker/pet-sitter in exchange for community service hours after he gets arrested for breaking into a vet’s office, looking for ketamine, while on a drunk bender. His billionaire playboy antics have caught up with him and this is his first opportunity to step out of his frat boy shadow and into the hero Starling City may need. This becomes increasingly apparent when he stumbles upon an Undertaking, an ambitious and elaborate plan to rid Starling City of an entire neighborhood known as the Glades, by way of PIGZ- Plasma-Induced Ghouls/Zombies. It’s not until Oliver and Seven meet that the pieces start to fit together, though more questions arise.
Relationships: Laurel Lance/Tommy Merlyn, Oliver Queen x Original Character





	PIGZ

Our story begins in Starling City, 2020. The vibrant energy was contagious, both inventiveness and security busting at the seams of the city limits. A thriving metropolis that was only growing in its prosperity.

I was 20 years old, attending Starling City University. My choice of study was yet to be determined, though I did have a knack for observing people and behavior. The possibilities were endless and maybe that was why I hadn’t decided on one particular field.

Deciding to expand my horizons to allow my true aspirations to come find me, I ventured out of the college dorms and had moved into my very first apartment. Well, me and my best friends, of course. The four of us had moved into two apartments side by side and had spent the past week, getting everything settled before classes started up again for the fall. Our living arrangements were just as they were in the dorms, we as a quartet living right next door to each other. The small spaces within those walls were where we laughed, cried, gossiped, and began to question the world around us and what our place within it was.

Laurel was the more astute of us all and had declared her pre-law track during our very first semester. Dinah was a little less sure of her goals, like me, opting to go the free-spirited route of taking a bunch of classes and seeing what stuck. Indiana was somewhat in the middle, not dead set on a particular career, but declaring art as her major, simply because that was what she was good at.

I hobbled out of our apartment complex on my crutches and made my way into the Glades. It was a less appealing community compared to the modernity of the rest of the city, but a college student’s health insurance could only do so much.

It had been exactly a month ago, to the day, when I was driving back home from visiting my grandparents in Central City. My dad drove as I dozed off in the passenger’s seat in the wee hours of the morning. Waking up, I was confined to a hospital bed and my dad was nowhere to be found.

_Weakness. It was the first sensation upon becoming somewhat conscious of my being. The tiredness was on an exponential level, never having felt before. Which was both strange and troublesome, considering I was just waking up from what felt like an hours-long nap. The energy it took to even raise my eyelids was too much, so I had laid there for minutes, wondering if I would fall back into slumber._

_Then, the position of my body became enlightened for me. I could feel myself lying down, completely supine. Yet, when I slept in the car, I was cursing myself for the cramp in my neck I was sure to feel whenever I hopped out of the car. Then, the registration of a beeping sound entered my mind. What the hell was that beeping? My alarm?_

_The first movement I made was to shut off the damn thing before I was tempted to throw it across the room. I moved my leg not even a full inch before I had regretted the decision with everything in me. A fiery, sharp pain like no other shot up my leg and seemingly crept its way throughout my entire body in a matter of seconds._

_“FFFFFFU-” The expletive was abandoned as I bit my lip in response to the utter agony burning within me. I had slammed my hand on the bed railing and sucked in a breath before lying back down in the bed. Endless thoughts raced through my mind as I looked all around my surroundings. Peering to my right, I saw that the source of the beeping was not my phone, but rather a monitor measuring my vitals. My heart rate was only just now relaxing some as it spiked from when I had first risen and moved my cast-covered leg. To my left was a nightstand. On top of it, my phone lied within a clear, plastic bag that also seemed to contain my blood-stained clothes._

_The bag was too far away from the first attempt at reaching it and I had prepared myself with a few deep breaths. The panic that was creeping in my veins was surely set to overcome my impending pain when I eventually moved my leg again. Before I forced myself to lift my leg, I could hear the wide door open and see the lights from the hallway stream into the room._

_A nurse. Her white-blonde hair contrasted with her golden skin and close-set eyes. She walked calmly over to me, stopping at the bed._

_“I saw your heart rate spike, figured you had woken up. My name is China. How’re you feeling?”_  
_Her voice held no warmth, at least not the kind you would desire to hear after waking up in a hospital with no recollection of what landed you there._

_I’d opened my mouth up to speak but the hoarseness in my voice wouldn’t give yield to anything intelligible spoken. Noticing this, the woman coolly walked across to the other side of the bed and poured water from a canister into a plastic cup. I reached for it, but she elbowed my hand away and brought the cup to my lips herself. My head turned up as I took in the treasured liquid. I wanted more, but she had moved the cup away from my lips before I could finish drinking the cup in its entirety. I couldn’t tell if I had rolled my eyes or not, but she didn’t seem to notice either way. Her attention was towards the door._

_Taking note of others was a crafted talent of mine and my senses had a knack for perceiving behaviors that, maybe, the average person didn’t. The nurse had taken several glances at the door in the two minutes she had been in the room and it didn’t do much for the unsettling feeling that had been brewing in me since I’d first awoken._

_“Where’s my dad?”_

_“Uh, you know, I’m gonna go check on that for you. In the meantime, your grandparents are en route. They should be here within the hour.” She sat me up some and fluffed my pillow. I had looked back at my phone once more, wondering if the pain would be worse if I moved quickly and hopped back into bed or slowly inched my way over._

_Either way, my plan had been nixed when I felt a pinch in my arm. I hissed in response while looking down to see a needle exiting it._

_“For the pain,” China stated._

_And just like that. It was lights out again._

Right about now, I had about as many answers as I had started with, yet life was still moving forward ahead anyway. Classes still were getting ready to start. My fractured leg was on its way to being completely healed. The police were slowly losing interest in a case they were deeming “forever unsolved.” But my dad was still missing. And I had no idea where he was and what truly happened on that forsaken night.

The doctor’s appointment was nothing out of the ordinary. Normal progress and with any luck, I could switch from crutches to just a boot in the next two weeks.

Though the reasonable young adult in me urged myself to get into my car and skedaddle out this somewhat dangerous territory, the rebellious wild child took over in a moment of weakness. I had spent these past few weeks healing under my grandparent’s wing once I was released from the hospital. While ever grateful for them for driving 600 miles to be at my beck and call, it had gotten old and smothering pretty quickly. It was a pleasant comfort in a time of chaos as local authorities interviewed me several times trying to get me to remember what had happened during the night of the crash and elicit any inkling as to where my dad could be. But there was nothing I could give and their frustration led them to the unsatisfying conclusion that he had simply been ejected from the car and his body had not yet been found.

By now, I was ready for any sort of haven or reprieve away from what shape my life had taken. While not being completely convinced of the show I had put on, my grandparents returned to their home in Central City, allowing me to get back to my life as junior year started. Daily phone calls and texts checking in still took place, but even they had settled into the new normal that their son’s life had probably been claimed that night.

“Okay, I’m here! Just know that these little unprompted nights on the town are gonna be far and few in between once classes start. On top of a full load, I have to start studying for the LSAT. Not to mention, I’m going to be president of the Pre-Law Socie-”

“Girl! Classes haven’t even started yet. Chill…” Indiana interrupted Laurel’s academic rant as Dinah giggled at their antics. She’d been listening to them bicker over numerous topics on the way to our meet spot.

“That’s right! No talking about classes until they actually start. Let’s try to enjoy these last few nights of freedom, yeah?” Dinah added.

Laurel rolled her eyes but agreed with a sigh. “Well, we’re here. Now what?”

The “here” in question was a factory-made nightclub, fitting in perfectly with its surroundings. The outside took on the appearance of an old industrialized warehouse with crooked and cracked concrete lining the path to the entrance. Any woman with stilettos would do well to watch their steps if they didn’t want their heels to get caught up in the ragged ground.

The lax attention of the security and bartenders allowed us to drink our worries away and release our inhibitions, despite the four of us being a year underage. Indiana and Dinah were dancing with strangers to the EDM blaring through the speakers while Laurel flirted with her boyfriend, Tommy.

Without a love interest or two fully functioning legs to stand on, I was left to my own devices with a beer in my hand. Though, there was an alluring set of eyes that caught mine in the middle of the dance floor.

I nodded my head to the music, my form of limited dancing, as he strode over. His dark brown orbs enchanted me to the point where I had to look elsewhere, and so I took in the rest of his features. His hair was buzzed short and his beard and mustache were shadows on his face as if it had only been a day or two since he last shaved. His smirk seemed painted on his face as his expression hadn’t changed as he drew closer to me. Not the typical ladies’ man smirk. But the inviting kind.

“Hi, handsome.” The beer and need for escape boosted my boldness.

“Pretty girl.” He addressed me. “What brings a sweet like you to a place like this?” His smirk formed into a bright, white smile.

“Who says I’m sweet?” My cheeks felt hot from the nerves, but I continued on. He sat down next to me. “And who said you could sit there?”

“My bad. Couldn’t help but get closer to a stunna like ya’self..” He spoke his apology but made no signs of moving. In fact, he even scooched a little closer and moved my crutches away from me, to the other side of where he sat. Dinah had looked my way, by this point, halting her dancing. I gave her the “okay” wink and she continued dancing, though keeping a pointed look our way every few minutes.

“So what happened?” He gestured towards my leg.

“None of your business.” I spat back. I would feel bad for my rudeness if the entire point of this night out wasn’t to forget the predicament of my life right now.

“My bad again.” He smoothly remarked. He could see the agitation across my features. “What’s your name?” He asked as a way of smoothing over the conversation.

“What’s yours?” I threw back.

“Ted. My friends call me Wild Cat.” He rose a brow with that wide smile of his again. He held his hand out for me to shake, which I took. I couldn’t help but crack a joke, though.

“Okay, High School Musical.”

I gulped down the rest of my beer. “Seven.” I gave him my name.

“Got a brother named eight?” His smile gleamed amid the sparse lighting. It made you smile yourself, along with the corny crack.

“Shut up,” I uttered. “My friends call me Sev.”

“Well, I hope I’m a friend, Sev. Would you like to dance?” I snorted at his request, pointing at my leg with a wordless “wtf.”

“It’s alright, I won’t let you fall.”

There was something comforting in those words and everything you needed to hear in that moment. He wouldn’t solve your problems, but a dance with him would make you, for one night, forget that you had any.

When he stood, he held out his hand for me and practically led me to the dance floor with a light lift.

A slower R&B song came on and we shifted awkwardly together to the music. From the outside, I’m sure it looked silly, but we were in our little world for those three and a half minutes.

“Who sings that? You were humming the lyrics.” He asked as the next song played and the mood shifted.

“Ari Lennox. The song’s called Shea Butter Baby.”

“Ahh.” He hummed. I wanted so bad to return my head to his chest, from just a minute ago. I could see the girls gathering their things from behind him and he could tell by the look on my face that the night was over.

We exchanged contact info and said our goodbyes. My cheeks had warmed for the second time tonight as he left a light kiss on my cheek as a farewell.

Laurel had rejoined the group after bidding adieu to Tommy and Indiana had sworn she had met the love of her life that night as we packed into my car for home.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Welp, I hope you all liked the first chapter! If so, please leave kudos and share your comments! I like being interactive with my writings and welcome thoughts and reviews. This first chapter is really just setting the stage and getting a feel for the characters in the story before the action and drama ramps up.


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